Goodness, I can hardly contain my excitement. I’m not sure if I’m more looking forward to this, or the Global Airlines A380 inaugural. 😉
In this post:
TAAG wants to fly from Angola to United States
Angola’s national airline, TAAG Angola Airlines, seems to be serious about launching flights to the United States. This has been rumored and discussed for a long time, but steps have now actually been taken to make this a reality.
Per a new filing with the Department of Transportation (DOT), the airline intends to launch nonstop flights between Luanda (LAD) and Houston (IAH), covering a distance of 7,636 miles. The number of frequencies, schedule, and aircraft type planned for the route, haven’t yet been revealed.
There’s only one (major) thing standing in the way of this route launching. Angola is awaiting a Category 1 rating by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is required in order to initiate service to the United States. Angola has been working on getting upgraded from Category 2 to Category 1 as part of an aviation safety assessment. While there’s no timeline for when that will be completed, it’s my understanding that good progress is being made.
So only time will tell how long this takes. I can’t imagine the route will launch in 2025, but maybe 2026? That of course assumes the airline doesn’t change its strategy.
TAAG Angola Airlines has been nicely modernizing its fleet in recent times, as the airline has taken delivery of new Airbus A220s and Boeing 787s. However, as some longtime OMAAT readers may remember from my TAAG 777 first class review, the soft product leaves a bit to be desired, to put it politely. 😉
This would be a resumption of the “Houston Express” 747
Typically when foreign airlines want to launch long haul flights to the United States, New York is the first target. So why would TAAG Angola Airlines be considering Houston? Well, because of oil links between the two destinations — Houston is often called the oil capital of the world (because of the number of energy firms based there), while Angola is one of Africa’s largest oil producers.
Interestingly, this wouldn’t even be the first time that the Luanda to Houston market is served. As a matter of fact, a nonstop flight operated between the two cities between 2000 and 2018, and it was dubbed the “Houston Express.”
The route was marketed by SonAir, part of Angolan petroleum company Sonangol Group. Since the airline didn’t have the right planes to operate the route, the actual operation of the flight was contracted out to other parties.
Between 2010 and 2018, the route was operated by US carrier Atlas Air, which operates cargo and charter flights. This flight was operated by a specially configured Boeing 747-400, featuring just 189 seats. This included 10 first class seats, 143 business class seats, and 36 economy seats.
Until only a year before the route was cut, the flight wasn’t even open to the public, but was instead only open to employees of select companies, who could book the flight through their travel department. In 2017, the flight was open to the general public, only to be canceled a year later, due to “financial and commercial difficulties.”
What a unique route, and I regret that I never had the chance to fly it. Interestingly, the exact Atlas Air 747-400s that operated that route are still in service, now mostly performing sports charters, including for the Miami Dolphins.
Bottom line
TAAG Angola Airlines intends to launch nonstop flights between Luanda and Houston. The airline has filed with US authorities, though is awaiting a Category 1 rating with the FAA in order to actually be able to operate this flight.
This sure would be fascinating, and it would mark the resumption of a route that existed for nearly two decades, as SonAir’s “Houston Express.”
What do you make of the prospect of Luanda to Houston service resuming?
I know a retired oil guy who spent a fair amount of time in Angola. The bureaucracy there was hellish to deal with but he adored the people, the culture, and the beaches and felt like if the country made a push for it, it had everything needed to be a world class beach destination someday.
Drill baby, drill
Houstonian here. We are the most diverse city in the world. 4th largest city in the U.S. The African population in Houston is 100k plus. People will connect both ways from Houston to other cities as well as connecting in Luanda. Houston also has the Texas Medical Center the largest medical center in the world. A city in its own of 3 dozen hospitals specializing in world class cancer treatment , children’s hospitals , and...
Houstonian here. We are the most diverse city in the world. 4th largest city in the U.S. The African population in Houston is 100k plus. People will connect both ways from Houston to other cities as well as connecting in Luanda. Houston also has the Texas Medical Center the largest medical center in the world. A city in its own of 3 dozen hospitals specializing in world class cancer treatment , children’s hospitals , and research. This is where you go for treatment if you are wealthy.
I doubt there will be may connecting flights to other parts of Africa, on the account of the fact that firstly, TAAG needs to build up a better network of African destinations for them to connect too, but more importantly, the location of Angola is disadvantageous to connect to any part of Africa, except probably the Southern/Central Africa. AFAIK Houston's African population is mainly of West African decent, and this would require a major detour.
One word: OIL.
At one time, LAD appeared as a "coming soon" destination in DL's Sky Magazine (NBO and SSG also did at different times), as a tag-on to DL's ATL-ACC or ATL-LOS service. I was under the impression that the main reason none of those launched was that the FAA was not satisfied with security at those airports. I know KQ and NBO had to do a lot to launch their JFK flights many years later...
Then IAH would have service to all continents!
Nice nostalgic video of the 747-400 ... Long live the Queen ! Interesting color distinction with the Atlas livery on this ship.
Maybe Angola can arrange a code share or two with UA once FAA approval is granted for the service.
Is their inflight economy service really that much worse than the American carriers ? ( Really low bar here ! ) .
Is there any reason for favouring LAD over the brand new NBJ? I thought TAAG already were in the process of moving across.
Are you sure???? I thought the Houston Express was initially operated by World Airways on behalf of the Angolan oil company using a MD-11, not Atlas using a 747-400. The World flight stopped in Sal, Cape Verde for refuelling.
Such pure business routes are fascinating. This reminds me of the (sadly) long gone SAS 737 from Stavanger, Norway (Oil capital) to IAH, in an all business class configuration.
Pretty sure it was PrivatAir operating those 737s, not SAS.
It was SAS using a wet-leased PrivateAir jet.
In an “oil” business class formation.